I had this sudden urge to FINALLY start on my very own, and very first, Elliquiy story based roleplay. Dont know why or how but I was just suddenly inspired after some thought. As a habit with all my literary workings, I tend to make things structured, colorful and as complete to the bare basics as I can before I set loose plotted freeform mode. This means as long as this idea keeps going, I will be adding more and more things for the reading pleasure of others, as well as something for the players to play around with.

Everything here is subject to change and additions. This is just the initial draft stuff. It may appear to be post apocalyptic in the beginning, but it relatively isnt. Think of a Fantasy themed land after a very major war.

A note. Most of the threads I will be putting up will be dynamic. This means I will constantly update them as we go along, especially the information threads.

It has begun! Anyone approved of their profiles in the Character Thread may now post in the new Main Thread. Anyone still in the process of doing it, its ok. Once you've posted it up on the Character Thread, you may start roleplaying and I'll get right to you about the character details later. All OOC stuff, inclusive of questions, comments and suggestions will also be moved to the new OOC Thread.

Timeline Genre: Not so distant future from our time but technology is greatly futuristic with a dash of steampunk

Several centuries have passed since the Heaven's Ritual incident, when the Neo Terminus Gene was first put out on the old public market. The world of Sanguine is now a shadow of its former self. Cities have crumbled into ruins. Nations have splintered into a variety of factions, some as small as a handful of men and women, some as vast as mighty empires. Much of the landscape laid barren, stripped of most natural resources, the horizon normally strewn with husks of metal and concrete. Humans now live in dire times. Dire times call for desperate measures almost anywhere in Sanguine. Smaller factions battle each other for precious food, water and medicine. The larger ones have little care, for they are the ones who are still able to produce the resources they need to subsist, using advanced pre war technology to provide them with knowledge and renewable energy, and only allowing trade with the lesser factions if they have something that they want. Normally, they trade for old war relics and technology from the time before the incident, which they can convert and reverse engineer for their own uses. The largest empire of of them all was named Judith, ruled by the militaristic Emperor Jonas Herman III, and much of Sanguine's supply of trade comes from this empire alone. Due to this, Judith has been known to ruthlessly flex every bit of military muscle when it came to their dominance over almost everything. It was this dominance that brought a number of other factions under the emperor's influence and control, and also subsequently forming the alliance known as the Free Peoples of the Sanguinia, secretly based far to the east, in opposition to the Emperor's rule. The downtrodden and lost who could not earn the favor of the Emperor, or could not make the journey east to join the Sanguinia, were usually left to fend for themselves, becoming bandits and forgotten vagabonds. This was where the legends began with the story of two such bandits, Yuma and Uriel.

Yuma was a highwayman, forced to prey on the Emperor's supplies wherever he could find them to feed himself. Uriel was a castaway priestess of a cult that worshipped Aladi, the Patron of Death. Both were born possessing unique abilities, almost superhuman, as their parents were secretly known to have the Neo Terminus gene. By chance encounter, they joined forces and began stealing from Judithian convoys for money and giving them to the poor. Their life of crime and free living spanned for many years, earning them much fame and recognition with each convoy they ambush. A special name arose in their rather large bounty papers and soon enough, everybody in the Wasteland Barrens called them 'The Gun Fighters' from the unique, personalized guns they carried with them. It was not known what happened after they were hunted down by the Emperor Jonas' soldiers, bent on revenge for the numerous public humiliations on their dominant image, but they were said to have lived on and died old together in a run down and reclusive mansion. After their supposed passings, the legacy they left behind, the shining, attractive idealic image of the dashing pistol twirling hero and the voluptuous rifle totting heroine played among the imaginations of younger generations, and soon enough, copycats emerged. After a decade, the 'Gun Fighter' became normality in all walks of life, a skilled combatant of firearms. It was those who had the Gene that shined over the rest, and for the rest of history to this day, countless famous names piled one on top of another, working their dangerous vocations in every faction, of every shape, size, background and origin. The Age of the Gun Fighter has arrived and it is this age where our story begins.

Main Regional Areas

North - The Wasteland Barrens. This is where the ruined lands generally reside. Pockets of civilization still exist here. Bandits and Judithian army are plenty in this region but not easily encountered, since the area is so vast.South - Unknown. Unsure what to put here.East - The Free Peoples of the Sanguinia. More detailed here later.West - The Empire of Judith. The most powerful faction of the new world.

Our Story

Our story begins in the town of Edith in the Wasteland Barrens. This place is a small out of the way town that is located near the ruined and abandoned city of Valen. It is a town where people come and go just as a brief stop over, but it is mostly known as a Gun Fighter town. The Gun Fighters here are normally mercenaries and treasure seekers, taking advantage of Edith's convenient location as a rest stop from their adventures in the ruins. Player characters either all start here or are only just arriving. We'll spend some time RPing a little before I kick in some progression on the main storyline.

Where it goes from there, we'll simple play through. I do have a basic plotline in mind already, which I shall keep to myself for now.

Technology

- The Neo Terminus Gene

A special gene that, once spliced and added to the human gene helix, will alter and discreetly enhance every last bit of the human physique into something superhuman. The initial version of the artificially created gene, simply named Terminus, was a catastrophic disaster and only after years of alteration did scientists manage to control its unpredictable mutation patterns. The improved gene did not cause any visible physical change and any subject would look exactly the same as they would have before splicing, but the gene will still provide with the enhancement that it was proposed to produce. Politics and administration from corporate hierarchies then took over, intending to sell the gene to the public, much to the ignored protest of those who developed it. The result of the large scale wholesale of the gene into human life was a failure. Those who could not afford the gene incited rebellion and the civil war known as Heaven's Ritual began, coined by a fanatical group which greatly opposed the use of the gene. After the incident, 50% of Sanguine lied in utter destruction, plunging the world into a world of despair and suffering. All manufacturing of the Neo Terminus Gene has ceased to exist, but the families of those who took the gene still lived on. Their offspring bare the same gene in various generations, and normally, the gene will not become fully realized until the child has reached a certain age, when his/her physical abilities will notably become enhanced. 70 to 80 percent of all Gun Fighters of the day possess the Neo Terminus Gene.

OOC note: When I mean superhuman, I dont mean like Marvel character type. I mean something like those in anime shows.

- Robots and cyborgs

During the Heaven's Ritual incident, mechanical soldiers, technology implants and humanoid machines were used as a counter to combating soldiers enhanced with Neo Terminus. These machines were powerful and state of the art of the time. Their power and technological advantage over many of the day's early war machines were near second to none. Whenever an army of Gene carriers approached, these Pre War machines will be sent in to even the odds. After the war, a majority of these machines have become abandoned in the ruins of Sanguine. Scavengers and junkers would collect parts or even whole collections of these Pre War relics to sell to the Empire of Judith, in exchange for food, water and medicine. The price for even a scrap of a power conduit is very high, the relics considered the most valuable source of income for many Wasteland denizens. They are also a source of thier greatest fear. Pre War machines which have survived to this day normally are still active in the ruins and are malfunctioning beyond repair, attacking anything that comes within their sensor range. Post war technology builds upon reverse engineering the old salvaged technology to become something new for the richer factions to exploit. Most of this new technology are used to create new machines, less powerful than the ones of the past, but still formidable.

- Weapons

The weapon of choice for any regular fighter in this time is the firearm. Melee weapons are still used but mostly among civilian public. There are a mass of many types of guns, constantly being manufactured, distributed and modified throughout Sanguine. Unlike the firearms of the past where bullets and ammo were an issue, the guns of today require no ballistics and are instead powered by self rechargeable power packs that vary in size, shape and type, dependant on the manufacturer and type of gun. Each gun type has their own heat sink system to manage the large amounts of heat generated from each shot, and one can only shoot so much before the weapon has to cool down enough to be fired again. Each gun type is designed to follow specific weapon patterns, with each type of gun having sub patterns.

Gun Fighters are known to specialize, modify and personalize their guns, and a Gun Fighter's guns are usually symbolic with his/her identity and fame, like a katana is symbolic to a samurai family. Bounty papers on a Gun Fighter's head usually asks to bring back his/her guns as proof of the deed.

Fights between Gun Fighters can be highly acrobatic and fast paced, thanks to the Neo Teminus gene. Think John Woo, Matrix and Wanted. Taking down a Gun Fighter as a regular person and normal weapons will not be an easy task. The soldiers of the Judith know this, so they make up for their lack of speed and flexibility with brute force, heavy armor and sheer numbers. Taking on Judithian solders is considered dangerous, even for a regular skilled gunfighter, as they possess the best kind of guns and armor that only the best amounts of money can buy. The hardest challenge comes from fighting Pre War machines, as they were designed specifically to fight and kill Gun Fighters.

RP Features

- Anime/game based - I tend to notice a lot of influences from popular anime/game such as Trigun, Hellsing and Gungrave. The RP is mostly based on concepts found in anime and games.- Mainly coop - We will all be working together to get through the challenges I throw out. Lots of team play involved, so that everybody wont get separated too often.- Story based (not a game) - I will be guiding along our motley crew through the world of Sanguine and will provide with challenges as the story progress. Other players are welcome to add their own plot twists, as long as they are not to major. More details on this later on.- Long term - This RP will be long term running, so if anyone is no longer interested, please notify everyone via the future OOC thread.- Character classes - There will be a list of character classes with their details coming soon. A brief example can be found above.- Lots of neat guns! - I am allowing anyone and everyone to invent their own guns! Yes. You heard me right. As long as they are not too powerful or outlandish and fit into your character's class.- Unlimited ammo! - Explained above. No ammo issues, since I intend to use a futuristic theme with it.- Some kinks. Im fairly new to introducing this to my experience as a writer but I'll give it a try.- Likely to be under NC, but still deciding.

Good to see interest! I'll get working on more details and a character sheet as soon as Im able, which is like the night time of today. Got classes later.

Once again, any questions, just post em and I'll get right back to you.

orderNchaos:

I was aiming for the heroic type for most players, with some reknown as a Gun Fighter in the world. You can also play a young and new Gun Fighter if you so wish. Just so you know, its a little gritty like post apocalyptica, but there is still some civilization. Not to the extent of Fallout universe like (nuclear aftermath type). Something like a 'good region, bad region' thing, in the aftermath of a major civil war. I thought this would help in creating some diversity in the characters.

The future character sheet will have an option for your character to be carrying the Neo Terminus Gene or not. Yep. Normal humans are allowed too.

There will be robots and cyborgs. These were created to combat Gun Fighters without the aid of the Gene, and they come in many different varieties of two types, Post War and Pre War Relic. I am also allowing for players to choose this option and play as a humanoid robot or cyborg, if they are not interested in playin a human.

EDIT: Im a little stumped over the current character class names listed in the first post. If anyone can think of some nifty ones, then lets hear it.

Reminder: The story will be non-system based. We will be relying on equal fairness as we go along.

Erm as this is anime based can we have variable physical differences for those with the the gene? I was hoping to play Kimi as cat girl (ears and tail not a furry.) Also though the guns aren't bullets can we get guns that work in a similar fashion? Ie like an Uzi? I've also thought of a transport device that might be nifty. Ok it's not my idea but it's a mixture of something featured in a game and in real life.

I was just thinking about that. Due to the extended amount of time through the many generations of gene carriers, unexpected mutations in the human gene helix are bound to happen and may cause some visibly physical mutations. I guess I will allow it. :) Seems fair, since its only looks.

There may be guns that still use ballistics but with the level of armor plating that this future will have, it will make them escentially obsolete. Personally, I like the dripping clink of bullets from the ejection slot of a minigun, but for convenience sake of our players, I'd like to keep the ammo count unversally energy based.

Let loose whatever ideas you have here. If its good, it goes up. There will be an Information Thread for a good reference read, so that everyone knows what we have so far.

I was just thinking about that. Due to the extended amount of time through the many generations of gene carriers, unexpected mutations in the human gene helix are bound to happen and may cause some visibly physical mutations. I guess I will allow it. :) Seems fair, since its only looks.

There may be guns that still use ballistics but with the level of armor plating that this future will have, it will make them escentially obsolete. Personally, I like the dripping clink of bullets from the ejection slot of a minigun, but for convenience sake of our players, I'd like to keep the ammo count unversally energy based.

Let loose whatever ideas you have here. If its good, it goes up. There will be an Information Thread for a good reference read, so that everyone knows what we have so far.

I still think bullets would be better. Erm well ears andthe like would afford better hearing. But if you don't that then fake ears are fine.

I was just thinking about that. Due to the extended amount of time through the many generations of gene carriers, unexpected mutations in the human gene helix are bound to happen and may cause some visibly physical mutations. I guess I will allow it. :) Seems fair, since its only looks.

There may be guns that still use ballistics but with the level of armor plating that this future will have, it will make them escentially obsolete. Personally, I like the dripping clink of bullets from the ejection slot of a minigun, but for convenience sake of our players, I'd like to keep the ammo count unversally energy based.

Let loose whatever ideas you have here. If its good, it goes up. There will be an Information Thread for a good reference read, so that everyone knows what we have so far.

I was considering playing a sharp shooter with a penchant for sniper style skills, which means we could bring in gauss technology which meshes ballistics and energy. Basically a hardened titanium or depleted uranium round accelerated to high speeds by supercharged magnets.

That sounds like an idea. I like gauss technology. Nothing is more satisfying than a bullet that can literally punch through anything.

After some thought about it, however, I wouldnt be sure if it would fit into the story background. Natural resources such as titanium in this future are rare, so in essence, the manufacture of such specialized ammo would be very hard. This is the main reason behind the ammo issue actually. The only way for anyone to get them is by scavenging and the ruins can be quite vast.

I could allow for such ammo to be produced by the Empire or in some of the surviving regions in Sanguine. Even then, there really wouldn't be that many.

hhhmmmm....interesting. ok, dumb idea...a terminus gene enhancement that allows the character to change the molecular structure of any metallic or ore based item turning it into bullets for a gauss rifle! AHAHAHAHAHA.

By the way for transportation what I was planning to give Kimiko is a personal thing. Like those one person two wheeled things but it hovers and can fly quite high and fast. I would also recommend trains for the awesome factor.

Also now you've got me a pondering shot gun or SMG as a secondary weapon. *ponders*

Judging from the description of the Cyborgs/Robots, it wouldn't be in a character's best interest to be a human with cyborg implants or enhancements would it? The description makes it seem like they are no longer viable considering the technological decline.

Well they can be, but people with those have to be rich at some point to afford them, unless they have underground connections and got them off the black market. Surely there will be a black market, smugglers and shady traders, considering that the Empire holds a monopoly in almost everything. I wouldnt want everybody to have cybernetic implants, thats for sure. Only some.

DK

Alrightie. Take you time. I dont want anyone to rush. This objective of this story is for everyone to have fun.

I have yet to think about transport. It seems tricky since high technology is in decline in Sanguine. People still have to move around and natural resources arent that available also. I guess I can allow for hover technology, since its simple enough. If you make your transport thingie work on some recycling fuel or rechargable batteries or something, then it just might work.

Interesting! Ok, thanks Miles. So are we expecting the plot line of this story to be all of us hunting each other or is there an expectation that we are going to come together to fight a new threat or something??

Theres always room for more. The character thread and general info is up so everything is there for everyone to start posting profiles. I may not have one of my own, since I may just be the storyteller in this one. Keeps me concentrated.

orderNchaos

There is an expectation that the characters will all come together. You CAN start off hunting another character if you want. Eventually, we will all be working together on a single main plotline, some side things allowed. What I have in mind would need a group of Gun Fighters, so to speak, because, a bit of a hint, most of the time, the group will be outnumbered and sometimes outgunned.